Pope appoints new bishop for Bangladesh’s Dinajpur Diocese

(October 29, 2011) Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday appointed a new bishop to the Diocese of Dinajpur in north-west Bangladesh. Fr. Sebastian Tudu is the new bishop of Dinajpur whose seat has been vacant since April 6 when Holy Cross Bishop Moses Costa was transferred to Chittagong. 44-year old Fr. Tudu, who has been a priest for only 11 years, was born on June 17, 1967 at Changura in Dinajpur. He did his secondary studies at St. Philip’s High School while staying at the minor seminary of the diocese. After his studies at the Dinajpur Government School he shifted to the capital Dhaka, where while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Notre Dame College run by the Holy Cross Congregation, he continued his formation at St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary. He then proceeded to Dhaka’s Holy Spirit Major Seminary where he was subsequently ordained priest on December 30, 1999. After 3-years as assistant parish priest in Dinajpur he went to Rome in 2003 where he earned a doctorate in missiology from the Pontifical Urban University in 2007. On his return to Dinajpur he served as assistant parish priest of the Fatima Rani Church in Ruhea until 2009 when he was appointed Vice-Rector of Dhaka’s Holy Spirit Major Seminary. He also serves as diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Dinajpur Diocese was created in 1927, and is a suffragan of Bangladesh’s only metropolitan archdiocese, Dhaka. Out of a population of some 16.5 million, Dinajpur has over 46,000 Catholics spread across 15 parishes and 18 mission stations. They are served by 56 priests, 148 religious, and 36 catechists.